JPF Home Page Forums General Messages Mentor Questions Forum E-mailing Wav quality.

I am dealing with a demo studio that prefers to email the finished song rather then send a CD copy in the mail.I am on dialup so receiving wav files are out of the question.He told me the transfer would be in wav quality but would not take up any more space than a mp3.He sent me a file and it sounds great but my player says it is in 128kb.If it is in 128kb,would that not mean that it is compressed,when compressed you lose some quality,right.So how can it be wav quality?

hi - the easiest way to overcome this (I have the same problem) is for them to convert the wav to an ape file -- an 320k ape is as close to a wav as you can get but is smaller in size. I found this out because I do a lot of internet collabing & record vocals for folks songs but needed a way to deal with getting & sending good quality tracks.

download a dBpowerAMP Music Converter

cheers
Hummin'bird

PS - how much are you paying for the demo that they aren't willing to spend $5 on giving you a CD thru the mail?

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[This message has been edited by Hummingbird (edited 06-24-2006).]

Its not WAV quality. Plain and simple, even if they tell you it is. Any time you do anything to the file to reduce it's size, you ARE LOSING quality. Even Hummin'bird's example is losing quality. DON'T ACCEPT ANYTHING LESS THAN A REAL WAV FILE. You're paying good money for it, you may as well get it.

They should have a server that you can log into to download from. It's plain stupid to e-mail an audio file with so many ISP's that limit e-mail attachment sizes.

For my studio, I run a server that a client can log into with a username and password. Where they can download files from me. I work with a mastering guy who does the same thing. When I need something mastered, I upload to his server and then when he's done, I download from his server. Very easy, even for dialup.

I agree with bird in that if they can't physically mail you a CD, something is amiss.

Jody

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Music That Makes Your Soul Happy!
www.jodywhitesides.com

[This message has been edited by Whitesides (edited 06-24-2006).]

Along the lines of Internet collabs, Patrick asked this same question in the recording forum.

When collaborating, it's plenty good enough to use an MP3 during the tracking phase to send your files back an forth. It's quick its simple and most recording programs and make use of them now. However, keep track of what was the MP3 and where the master file is. Use MP3's during tracking and trading, but when it comes to the final mix, make sure the engineer has all the actual WAV, SDII, or AIF files on his machine. I don't recommend using MP3s or any lossy type files of any kind for your final mix. It's not wise. That includes FLAC, Apple Lossless, and APE.

I've done lots of studio collaboration with MP3s during the tracking phase, but always spend the time to upload the actual WAV files once everything has been agreed upon. One really cool project I did this way was the Tiger Wood's 2004 game soundtrack with a friend in Australia.

Jody

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Music That Makes Your Soul Happy!
www.jodywhitesides.com

I once worked on a project with a guy 2000miles away. He was adding piano tracks to my project. We swapped mp3 files so that we could get a handle on what we wanted to accomplish. Once we got it ecactly right, he burned the .wavs to a CD and mailed it to me. Believe me, it is worth the 3-day wait.

The studio is sending me a CD copy but asked me to compare it to the quality of the file he sent me.I don't know if my ear will be good enough to detect the difference or not, but I am sure some good ears will.

Don't compare it. Its not worth the effort. Just know that if it has been compressed using some sort of software to make the file size smaller - you're missing audio quality. It's a fact of life, whether you can hear it or not.

As for having files sent on CD. There's really no reason to send WAV files via CD if you have an internet connection. Why wasted the plastic? There is no difference between a WAV file burned on a CD or a WAV file transfered via FTP. The only difference is you don't spend money on the postage and you don't waste a CD-r.

I've recently released to singles of cover songs. One is "Cruel To Be Kind" and the other is "Ain't No Sunshine". Both of them have never been pressed to CD. Both were entirely recorded and mixed in one computer, then FTP'd to the mastering guy, who then FTP'd the finished product back. Once I approved it, it got FTP'd to iTunes and never touched a CD. I don't ever plan on putting them on CD. In fact, if there comes a time when I do more covers (outside of a christmast thing), I will not likely ever press them to CD.

The only time you want a CD or DVD is when you get the master backup of all the tracking files and the mix. So that you can take them to another studio or back to the studio to make changes or tweaks.

Jody

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Music That Makes Your Soul Happy!
www.jodywhitesides.com

[This message has been edited by Whitesides (edited 06-25-2006).]

Jody,what are FTP's?I've heard the term before but I must confess I don't know what they are.Remember,I am on dialup,I can receive wav but it will take forever to down load and take up more space than I have in my email.What makes FTP's different? Do you need a special program to receive them?I'm showing my lack of computer knowledge here, I'm a old fart that didn't know how to turn one on a few years ago.I'm learning as I go but it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks. LOL

Everett

FTP is a File Transfer Protocol. It's software that can link to a server and download/upload files.

Usually when you're dealing with wav file sizes you'd leave it on overnight or when you're away from the computer for a while. Obviously much easier if you have DSL or Cable modem speeds.

Do you live too far from the phone company to get DSL? Most DSL options are now cheaper than what dialup was. In fact, some DSL is like $12 a month.

Jody

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Music That Makes Your Soul Happy!
www.jodywhitesides.com

Thanks Jody.Yes,I live about eleven miles from the Telephone Co.,in a small farming community,so I don't ever forsee the day I'll have access to fast speed hookup.So I am stuck with a dialup service which cost more than fast speed,but I think fast speed cost a lot more than $12.00 around here, small population and little competion.

Everett

Well, I feel for ya. I haven't done much research, but I have read an article recently about a farming community that got fed up with waiting for high speed access to come to them. So they linked up with some service that brought high speed wireless access to the town.

You might find out the town by doing a google search. It was in all the big US papers because they were the first to do it. It helps the farmers stay on top of things out in the fields. How I have no idea, I wouldn't think you'd need a laptop when you're out there, but hey what do I know? I'm a musician.

Jody

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Music That Makes Your Soul Happy!
www.jodywhitesides.com

Ev -

You might also be able to do a satellite service to pick up the pace. Not sure what's available in your area.

Actually, there are a couple of lossless audio compression engines available that do a tremendous job.
Shorten, Monkey's Audio and FLAC are three that to a very good job of compression for transmission. They do need to un-compressed on the other end, back to a WAV file for playback.
I don't think you'll find better than about a 50% reduction in file size at best.
Give them a try. The caviat is the other side will also have to use the same program to compress it so you can un-compress to the original size.
A google search will find any of them for you.

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